Guild of the Platinum Dragon

Tarian's Diary - Entry #3

It all starts with a wagon...

By the time of writing this entry, I’ve already been trough enough things to fill up two entries! That means, entry #4 is going to be on it’s way soon. And this little story will probably end with entry #5

Ah, but, I really should start with the beginning. We were hired by Gundren Rockseeker to protect some…. Well, groceries. I won’t bother to lie, I was a little dissapointed. To hire protection for simple groceries! He could have asked for cheaper less experienced adventurers. Though, that still doesen’t mean we earned much.

One thing that did interest me though, was the possibility of getting more jobs at the end of this one. Maybe even more complex or, dare I say, challenging ones? Well, if nothing, he said that, in case he’s not there, we should bring the groceries to Barthen’s provisions, which offers a possibility. It came to me that he might not appear because he has some… Fishy bussiness and therefore may be endangered. Well, I’m probably just overthinking. It’s not in the nature of our guild to be involved with such people, sadly. Besides, we were told he was doing something, somewhere with someone, I think… Not that I payed attention.

So, my brother went too, ofcourse. You might know him from my previous entries. A bold, rash Wood elf, user of martial arts. And, my second favourite Half elf, Elthanias was there. He uses arcane energy, though it’s unstable and goes wild now and then. And, last, but certanly not the least, our front line fighter Dragar, the silver dragonborn. I’m always glad to have him by my side, even though we probably don’t share opinions.

Now, we were supposed to escort the wagon ourselves, from Neverwinter to Phandalin. Ofcourse we discovered Ale as part of the groceries, but my brother quickly put it under a lock… Well, a chain, to be specific, so others don’t fall to the temptation. Now, I would describe the travels and the sighting, but I have two problems. First off, I’m not that sort of artist. I prefer telling legends, adventures and that sort of things when I’m writing or speaking of something. Music is still my first priority, though. Second off, there really wasn’t anything special to see, that or I wasn’t looking.

As the day went trough and became night, we reached a waystone. Elthanias talked how it was one of the safer places by the road, made for travelers. If there was a forest nearby, I’d rather sleep on the branches of a tree myself. Not that I don’t like solid ground, it’s just that other creatures like it too. Wolves, bears, you name it. But, that’s why three of us slept while the other kept watch. And we switched around too, so almost everyone got to be awake at one point of the night.

So, we woke up, we ate, we started traveling again, and we stopped. Why did we stop? There were two dead horse corpses. A typical ambush, most of us though. And it was. So, my brother decided to fire an arrow into a bush on the side of the road. One of the bushes, as there was a second one on the other side. Now, Elthanias was going to chant a sleep spell, but he noticed his staff was gone. He quickly ran into the wagon, seeing it stuck and chained there.

That’s one of the reasons I later bought a pouch with spell components. To fix my brother’s rash decisions. Anyway, I threw a pretty powerfull sleep spell into the other bush, no noise coming from it after that. Arrows flew all around as Dragar raised his shield to protect all of us. Elthanias came back, putting three out of four goblins in the other bush to sleep, the other trying to run away. But my brother was quicker, sending an arrow trough his head. Now, I may have missed some happening here and there, but I was focused elsewhere.

Out of the eight goblins, seven were slain. Seven ears I collected, two more later that day. That was nine pieces of silver in my pocket. I had no idea what to do with it, but if nothing, I’ll leave it in front of a shrine. Now, we questioned one goblin named Fizz. What an awfull name, makes me want to rid him of his head. But, we promised to leave him alive if he provides usefull information, and he did. He told us of his camp and of hostages. Two of them, one fitting the description of Gundren. Interesting.

Now, we left and secured the carriage in the forest nearby. You may ask why I haven’t told written of it earlier, nor of the road. The answer is simple. I was inside, practicing my performance, and with it, my flute.

So, we went forward on our path to the Goblin nest. There, we found a cave from which a stream of water went. We snuck besides the river to see into the cave, noticing there were noises from the other side of the water. I quickly decided it was time for another lullaby as I got a little closer. Quieting all the noises, I got us rid of a potential threat. That is when we went a little forward into the cave and I got tasked with carrying a lantern.

I had nothing against carrying it, but having two hands free is better than having only one free. Still, when we got to the dangerous part, I left it on the floor. Ah, almost forgot. Before entering, my brother decided to leave caltrops if anything tries to escape. Smart move, but it slowed me down more than the enemy. But that’s a later part of the story

There were two chained worgs in the cave which we had to bring down. Elthanias used his spells while I tried with mine. My brother wanted to fire a flaming arrow, though he didn’t really succeed, only managing to get one regular shot against those creatures. Dragar, on the other hand, fought close combat with the wolf, losing his flail at one point. We managed to get them, though. Too bad they had to die.

That’s when we noticed a platform. Luckily, I brought a grappling hook so we managed to climb up there. When I say we, I mean my brother and the dragonborn, as the platform was too small to bear anyone else. There was a worg there, and a bugbear. Atleast, that’s what they saw while me and Elthanias stayed down. When they managed to advance, though, we got up too. Since moving on the rope isn’t my everyday activity, however much Dragar forces excersizes, I was a little confused, not really able to see much the first few seconds. I did see the silhouette of the bugbear running away, though.

Besides, I coudln’t help much anyway, so I got my grappling hook back, seing a worg down there a little later. Huh, weird. Anyway, I helped my brother recover from the wounds he managed to get so soon. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have nothing against him. I’m giving my best to protect him. But I can’t protect him from himself.

Anyway, there were goblins again. One of the reasons I hate them is, I feel this entry is getting much larger then usual. My brother demonstrated his martial arts again, even manipulating arrows. He repeated that trick later, too. So, we managed to fend them off, as well as other goblins goblins later, which we saw on a bridge. Well, I had to help my brother heal again, and my energy, both regular and magical, was at it’s end. I can’t wait to train myself even more.

So… My brother went to meditate to refill his inner reserves of energy, while the rest of us waited. And, the suprise wasn’t pleasant. Around ten goblins arrived, maybe in a patrol? Ofcourse, the bugbear was with them. Dragar tried to scare them with his mighty, deep voice. Elthanias tried to agree with them, persuade them. While I tried to tell them a big fat lie, how there’s more of us then there is of them. And, it worked… For a split second. We had to wake up my brother while Elthanias prepared to use his magic. Dragar was ready already, since he was attacked by them a minute before.

I, on the other hand, holded my brother in the air, on my shoulders, so he can see above the others. Despite my violent shaking at first, he managed to knock one of them down. Later, when I somehow kept his balance by being still, he missed. Dragar took some of them down with his flail while Elthanias did the same with his magic. When my brother decided to chase after the escaping bugbear, I took my dagger, throwing it precisly enough to slay one of them. It’s one of the reasons I’m still sad for not being the sneaky-stabby one in the party.

Ah, yes.I wanted to talk about my morality too, how it’s as stable as Elthanias’s magic. How, at one point, I want to slay every one of my enemies, and how sometimes, rarely, I feel the need to spread mercy. Maybe I am becoming a better person? I doubt it, though.

So, We got every single goblin, except one. The bugbear was still running, my brother catching up. The goblin ran too, but Dragar didn’t care. He was also after the leader. I decided to take care of the little guy, falling on my way down. I guess I didn’t really see where the way was going. This was the first time I was harmed on a mission, though. Damn, my record is ruined.

So, I was lying there, with the goblin. There was water running, and I noticed we were near the place where we took care of those worgs. So, the goblin got up, and I tried pulling it down again, but failing. Though, Elthanias also failed, trying to use one of the more powerfull spells. He then ran away in fear, for some reason. I got up then, realising this isn’t the time to joke around. The dagger I threw earlier was picked up, and luckily, because now I used it to slay the last goblin.

Ah, and, in case I do have a demon possessing me, he decided to act again. I blacked out here, only faintly remembering falling on the caltrops on the way out. Or, maybe, I hit my head? Any way, I don’t remember the details, but we caught up to the bug bear, delivered the groceries and found Gundren was missing.

This isn’t the end though. The next two entries, or one if I manage to compress the story, will be dedicated to the rest of this mission, and the mistery of Gundred’s dissapearance. Because, the only person we found was a human, maybe the one he was traveling with. And that human was dead.